May 29 2007
What do they get?
I get lots of junk e-mail at church and with my personal e-mail addresses.  Some are for prescription discount drugs, some are because I’ve “won” the lottery in about every country in the world, some are because I’ve inherited money from relatives I didn’t know I had and then x-rated emails. I also have anti-spam on my blog that picks up every nasty post that tries to get you and me to click on porn sites.
I don’t get it. What do the porn sites get? They are offering free “peeks” if you click on their trash. Am I missing something?  What kind of profit do they get?  I have come to the conclusion that there is just evil out there trying to destroy believers. Porn has destroyed lives, shattered marriages, caused people to lose jobs, drives people to violence and makes our faith in Jesus worthless. Who in the world has that much time to send emails and trash blogs to get people to become addicted to pornography?  I think I know the answer but it still bothers me. We live in an evil world. If you need help click on XXX Church, these guys are serious about helping people get out of porn.
What do you think?
12 responses so far
You guys should do one of their Porn and Pancakes events. I’m trying to persuade our church to do one (though I’m doubtful they will). And remember October 7 is national Porn Sunday - sign your church up!
those emails bug me, too. thankfully i have a pretty darn good spam filter on my mac and it gets rid of most of that junk. when i started getting spam trackbacks and comments on my site linking to porn sites i was totally baffled and outraged.
one of the things we did when we purchased the domain for our church’s website is to get both the “org” and “com” extensions of our domain. this way porn sites (or other inappropriate sites) couldn’t put something up there that people would find while trying to get to our site.
Kevin,
First, the posters of spam email and comments are programs called ‘bots.’ They are set up to read the information and fill in the blanks with whatever they are programed to insert. It’s the people who write the programs that are the problem. Which brings me to…
Second, the people who write those programs get money - and a lot of it. The porn industry is $10 Billion per year industry - and that is a couple of years old. It is probably more than double that, now. That’s why they try and get kids hooked. If they can get my teenage son to become addicted to porn, they can make money off of him for the rest of his life. Moreover, he is probably going to inadvertently pass this on to his kids, because you just can’t keep that stuff from getting out.
I have XXXchurch.com’s X3 watch software installed on my computer and it sends an email to my wife every two weeks to let her know any questionable sites that I have been viewing. I just put it on my Youth Minister’s laptop at his request. It’s FREE. (By the way, the software thinks stories from Baptist Press are porn! Every 2 weeks we get a report that I have viewed so and so many sites, and then it lists Baptist Press Articles that I have been reading. Funny.)
If you are devious and you know that you can shut off the software without it being acknowledged (X3 sends a message letting your accountability partner know if you turn off the software or change the settings) then there is other software out there that will track every key stroke, including messing with the system program that will turn off the tracker. There is no way around it, but it costs about $100. It’s worth it, I assure you.
Art,
Thanks for the info. I installed the AFA software at home. It is $60 a year for 3 computers.
I really have very little problem with spam any more. Per my son, I simply delete any email I do not recognize, and I’ve configured Outlook Express to suppress the preview pane. All I get when I open a folder is the list of emails.
And I never ever tell someone to unsubscribe me. If I do that, the spammer knows he got a good email address, and he sells it to others.
I rarely average one spam email a day, now.
Bob,
Must be nice.
Joe,
I deleted your comment because I don’t know if it is true. If what you are saying is true, contact Marty Duren, Art Rogers, Wade Burleson or Ben Cole. I donât comment on SBC politics anymore.
I use the AFA software (BSafe Online). It works well. I can’t imagine why anyone would let their kids surf without something like it. It is analogous to cramming your kid’s closet full of porn and saying, “please don’t look in there.”
I have X3 watch on my personal computer as well and it have been a life saver many times. I have been following the guys at xxxchurch.com for a long time now and simply love what they do, how they do it, and the hearts they do it with.
It isn’t often that you will find Christians who are willing to go straight into the darkest of places (in this case porn conventions and inside the porn industry) and reach out purely in love to those who are lost and unloved. These guys set a great example for that.
What on earth is Porn Sunday?????????????????????????
Porn Sunday is an event that a church can put on to address the issues of pornography use and addiction right in the church. You can go the the http://www.pornsunday.com website for the details.
Kevin, This sort of fits under this topic. I know there are other places it might fit better but I don’t have time to research back through your blog today. As I was looking through the sometimes crappy-sometimes good Craigslist personals, I came upon this post. I am doubting that it is actually from the one who says he is posting it, but the idea that someone would see this as a blatant suggestion is awful. The post is very trashy that I’m not cutting and pasting it all here. Perhaps churches will now have to block Craigslist from their preacher’s computer.
“Baptist minister here wanting to have me sins for getting between your legs, very real person, must be discreat.
I would love to…Age, race unimportant. Please be clean and d/d free as I am. Your Pic gets mine.” I do think this is worse than the porn problem for the effect that it has directly to another. What bugs me the most is that he would be so bold and disrespectful to God to say clearly that he is a minister. Personal worse thought is how people can be upset with me when I question the authority and ability of ministers.
(I will not be offended if this doesn’t stay posted.)
Hummm…maybe get Lee (close by) or someone like yourself to mentor the boy. I was so ticked and curious that I wrote him, and he is so wanting to meet up with someone that he quickly sent all his information. Just makes me sooo sad, mad, and frustrated at this powerful sin.
but I’ve got to leave now.